Re: Checkpoint 3.6: Big Hurdle for Double-AA/Triple-AAA Compliance

ADAM GUASCH-MELENDEZ wrote:
> 
> >From the guidelines:
> 
>   3.7 Mark up quotations. Do not use quotation markup for formatting effects such as
>         indentation.
>               [Priority 2]
>                    For example, in HTML, use the Q and BLOCKQUOTE elements to markup
>                    short and longer quotations, respectively.
> 
> OK, not abusing BLOCKQUOTE makes sense. Using Q doesn't - the major browsers don't support it yet. A short quotation can be marked up as:
> 
>      blah blah blah "memorable quote"
> 
> which doesn't meet checkpoint 3.7. 

I don't agree with your conclusion. 
There is no markup that is misused for formatting effects. 

> Or:
> 
>     blah blah blah <Q>memorable quote</Q>
> 
> which is rendered in most browsers without any quotation marks. This is simply not acceptable in most cases. The third option is:
> 
>     blah blah blah <Q>"memorable quote"</Q>
> 
> which would be rendered in an HTML 4.0 compliant browser as having two sets of quotation marks.
> Also not acceptable.

This was hotly debated in the HTML WG that
produced HTML 4.0. The wording we came up with was the following:

   > Visual user agents must ensure that the content of the 
   > Q element is rendered with delimiting quotation marks. Authors
   > should not put quotation marks at the beginning and end of
   > the content of a Q element.

The idea was to be forward looking for this element.
So, until user agents support proper rendering of Q, you shouldn't use
it.
 
> So, my choice is between broken rendering or non-compliance
> For now, it's non-compliance.

My conclusion: Don't use Q and you will be compliant.

> Is anybody working on version 1.1 of the guidelines?

Yes we are. Your continued comments are welcome.

 - Ian

Received on Tuesday, 6 July 1999 10:38:32 UTC